Azure Blood
by Eralane
Summary: After the Savior incident, Dante returns home with Trish, trying to act his usual carefree way but failing miserably. He can't take his mind off the boy he left behind, constantly worrying over him and feeling guilty about leaving. It's Vergil's kid, his nephew. Dante finds himself wanting to get closer to Nero, but can't bring himself into telling the boy about their relation.
1. Prologue

I'll be honest, I have no idea where I'm going to take this fic. I just started writing it after reading the Devil May Cry wiki and reading about the fact that Nero is Vergil's son being confirmed and official and I got inspired to write a fanfiction related to it. I have _some_ idea for what's going to happen at some points of this, but the plot as a whole is still pretty much non-existent. Just have to write and see, I guess.

* * *

Chapter 1. Prologue

"You know, Dante…" Trish said as the two walked towards the port, following the cobblestone road of a Fortunan street, sun starting to sink low enough to give the scenery an orange hue and make the lights of the surrounding buildings stand out brighter. "Something about that kid reminds me of someone I know. You know what I'm saying?"

Dante glanced back to the direction they'd come from, even though he knew Nero would be nowhere in sight, as it had been nearly 10 minutes since they left the boy behind to stay with this girl, Kyrie. "Yeah, I do…" he muttered, turning his gaze towards the woman walking beside him, noticing her suspicious smirk and raised eyebrow. "What? If you have something on your mind just say it."

Trish raised her hands and closed her eyes as she spoke. "I know it's none of my business…" she began.

"Uh-huh, I see a but coming."

"But. Are you really, really sure… That this kid, is not actually **your** kid? I don't know many white-haired guys, and hell, he looks a lot like you. Plus he's got some demon in him, Sanctus spoke of him like he had Sparda's blood and he awoke the saviour when he was sucked inside it. I don't know about you, but that's quite a lot of evidence to convince me that you might… Yeah."

Dante sighed. Yeah, he knew what she meant. Nero had white hair like he did, blue eyes, too. He was mostly human but he had demon blood, he was able to resurrect broken Yamato, and awoke the Saviour that required Sparda's blood. Like Trish had said. It was indeed rather convincing… "I know what you mean, and I see where it's coming from… Hell, if I didn't know better I'd suspect he _was_ mine. But believe me, that's not possible."

"And why not?" Trish questioned. "You've had plenty of women, lots of sex happening so it's not entirely out of the question, is it? Accidents happen, a broken rubber perhaps?"

"Ah, stop trying to scare me, babe", Dante snorted with an uncomfortable chuckle. He really wasn't fond of the idea of a condom breaking and causing accidental bastards running around in the world without him knowing about them.. He liked to think that, despite his bad luck in gambling, the odds were in his favor in this instance. It _was_ near 100% protection after all. "But seriously, when I say it's not possible, I mean it. I have never been to Fortuna before in my life. And even if I had, believe it or not, I actually didn't get into really sleeping with women until later, so he's also too old to be my kid."

"Oh", Trish mumbled and pursed her lips with a thoughtful expression. "But you two _are_ related, if he really has Sparda's blood in him… But how is that possible if you're not… Sparda didn't have any other children, right?"

"Now you're forgetting someone", the man pointed out. "While _I_ have never been here, I know someone who has. I used to have a brother, remember?"

Trish frowned. "You think Vergil would…? I know I never knew the guy, but from what you've told me, I figured he wasn't too fond of humans. Sex makes babies, you know. I can't imagine why he would want to get involved in that…"

' _True'_ Dante thought to himself. He didn't want to get into too much analyzing about if Vergil would or wouldn't have wanted to sleep with a human woman, or have a child at that matter. "Guys got needs, you know. If I count the years correctly he was only around 18 or so when he came here, so I guess he was… experimenting…? Christ, I don't know", he spoke. "I don't know if getting someone pregnant was on his to do list, it might have been a pure accident he was not even aware of. Or maybe he did have plans for Nero, I don't know, I really don't. I'm betting the first option, though. But one thing I am sure about is that the kid really is the bastard of that jackass."

"Is that why you could trust Yamato in his hands so easily?" the blond woman smiled.

"Yeah, I… I think he should be the one to have it… It wouldn't be fair to take it away from him."

They arrived at the port, and Trish glanced behind them once more, before returning her gaze to Dante. "Are you sure you don't want to tell him?"

The red-clad man snorted. "Tell him what, that he's my nephew?" _God that sounded weird._ "Nah… I figure he's better off as he is."

"I'm just a bit surprised, that's all. The boy _is_ an orphan. He doesn't have any other known living family."

Trish's words felt like knives, stabbing several spots on his chest and turning in their wounds. ' _Really, Trish? Really?'_ , Dante thought and sighed quietly. How could one sentence make him feel so guilty all of a sudden. Still, even if he did tell Nero who his father was and what it made the two of them, how would he react? Surely by freaking out, things would only get awkward between them. He wouldn't want that to happen, the kid seemed alright, if you could see past the punk attitude. "Yeah… But he will be fine, I'm sure."

"Well, if you say so. C'mon, let's board the ferry. Unless you're looking for a vacation on a half-destroyed, demon infested sub-tropical island."

Dante followed Trish onto the said ferry, leaning on the railing outside as it departed. He let out a deep sigh, just watching at the island growing smaller and smaller as they sailed further. ' _He will be fine'_ , he repeated in his mind. _'He will be fine.'_


	2. Back home

By the way, this is in the "normal version" of the game, not special edition where Lady can also be seen in Fortuna. In this fanfiction Lady never visited the island herself and merely pushed the job entirely on Dante and Trish.

* * *

Chapter 2. Back home

On the next morning Dante found himself sleeping on the couch with a magazine on his face. He vaguely remembered coming home with Trish and grabbing a beer from the fridge before slumping down on the couch; how he ended up laying down with the magazine was a mystery. He sat up and accidentally kicked a bottle on the floor, spilling its contents all over. The man grunted, picking the bottle up on the table and walked to the bathroom, careful not to step on the pool of beer. He got an old cloth from the bathroom and tossed it on the puddle. He stared at the cloth slowly absorbing the liquid. ' _Meh, that'll do'_ , he thought to himself. Trish could clean up the rest. He walked over to his desk, noticing that the Sparda wasn't hanging on the wall. Trish was probably out on some mission. The pink lipstick writing was still there, and frankly Dante wasn't sure it would even come off anymore. He snorted, sitting behind the desk, lifting his feet on it. He leaned his head back and stared at the ceiling. ' _Wonder how the kid is doing…'_

He still found hard to believe, and honestly pretty amazing. Vergil had an illegitimate son? If someone had told him that just days earlier he would have laughed at their faces and said something along the lines 'you don't know my brother'. But apparently he didn't either. Of course Vergil might have been drunk, that was always the possibility. Although he never seemed the type to _get_ drunk, at least not voluntarily… Or maybe they just weren't that different after all. In any case, it made Dante wonder if Vergil even knew about Nero or if the kid was a surprise to everyone. He was left at the orphanage as a baby, after all. That's what it had said on the Order's records. Nobody knows who his mother is. ' _Honestly though, to get Vergil's attention it must have been one hell of a babe'_. Dante snorted at that thought and frowned. If Vergil had known about Nero, would he have taken time to be a father? Vergil as a father though, that's one strange thought… The red-coated man groaned quietly, closing his eyes. Imagining himself as an _uncle_ was also an extremely strange thought. "Why am I even thinking about stuff like this…?" he muttered. "It's not my problem, right..?"

"What isn't, did you break something?" Lady teased as she walked in.

Dante lifted his head to look at the woman, sighing deeply. "What are you here for now? We just talked yesterday… just don't tell me you've got a job for me because I don't feel like doing shit…"

"Nah I actually came over to see Trish…" She looked around the room. "Where is she?"

"No clue."

Lady sighed, resting her hand on her hip and pointed at the floor near the couch. "You are aware how suspicious it looks when there's a puddle of yellowish liquid on the floor, right? Looks like piss."

"Aw c'mon, why would I take a leak there? The bathroom's right over here", Dante replied and pointed behind his back with his thumb. "That's just beer…"

"Mhm… So you're just going to wait for Trish to clean it up? Figures… You haven't changed a bit", the woman muttered, shaking her head.

"Yup, charming as ever."

"Bah, yeah right…" Lady scoffed and went to lean on the closest wall, looking around the place idly. "So…. How was Fortuna? Warm, I imagine."

Dante snorted searching his drawers for another magazine to replace the one he'd left at the couch and placed it on his face as he leaned back on his chair. "Some parts, yeah. Some frosts and bigger toad-demons made one place seem more like a winter wonderland than a tropical island, though. Turns out this was a rather large-scale job after all and I ended up saving an entire country, making my reputation even bigger than it already is. Thanks for that."

"Hah! I don't know if I should call it luck or misfortune that those jobs always fall on you. Lucky to get to hunt bigger more challenging demons but unlucky to get a fuckton of responsibilities thrown on you as well, am I right?"

"Yeah, something like that", the man chuckled.

Lady leaned away from the wall and walked to Dante's minibar, knowing that the man wouldn't mind if a single bottle of beer went missing. She went through the liquors until she found what she was looking for, uncorking the bottle as she sat down on a bar stool. "So this problem you were agonizing about earlier even though it's not yours?" Somehow Dante managed to link that sentence directly to Nero; how he was 'agonizing' over him even though he wasn't his kid. He shook the thought out of his head. "Did you break something?"

"As a matter of fact, yeah I did… But that couldn't really be avoided… Besides, it was the demons and this one Order asshole who did most of the damage anyway, I just broke a skylight and a huge Sparda statue inside a church of sorts, several hell gates and… hmm… No, I guess that's it", Dante said with a shrug. "I didn't even need to stay to clean up or pay for the damage, the kid's taking care of that and-"

"Wait, what kid?" Lady interrupted.

"... Oh, right… Yeah, there was this kid, aged less than 20 who turned against the Order and stepped on my side to fight them instead. A little punk, that one, part demon like myself. Got white hair and all."

"Huh… Well, that's a coincidence… I thought you were one of a kind", Lady snorted. "Since Vergil's out, I mean. It's not too often demons mate with humans. Was he a half and half like you?"

Dante wondered if Lady was truly interested or if she just kept talking to pass the time while waiting for Trish. It was really hard to tell. He also wondered whether or not he should tell her the truth about the boy. Though, Lady would most likely just use that information against him, so… "Less than half, I'm sure… He couldn't even trigger. Well, not without aids anyway." How much could he say without saying too much, though? "The Order had Yamato, and he could trigger using that."

"Yamato", Lady muttered with a thoughtful expression. "Yamato, Yamato, where I have I heard that… … Oh! It was Vergil's sword, right?" she asked, snapping her fingers and got a nod as a reply. She snorted. "Oh, the Order must have cherished that, a sword that once belonged to Sparda himself and was wielded by his son… I trust you took it back then?"

"Eh… No… The sword is still in Fortuna."

The woman went speechless at that, just staring at Dante with a face of disbelief. The man could feel it, even with the magazine covering his face. "You… Wait so… You just left a priceless heirloom and an incredibly strong and dangerous sword unsupervised at the hands of some… boy?"

"Yeah, he seemed to handle it okay, and his current weapons were human made so I thought I'd give him something to start a devil arm collection with", Dante smirked, jokingly.

"... We're talking about a sword that can open a portal to hell…"

"Well, it's not going to be a problem now since I destroyed all the hell gates", the man spoke lightly and the magazine was lifted off his face.

"I'm serious, Dante. Leaving the sword there was stupid, even for you. It's going to come back to bite you in the ass later, and I'm willing to bet on it."

"Bet all you want, I think this is one game that I would win", Dante said with a confident smirk on his face. "The kid can handle the sword and besides, he's mostly human… He won't do anything stupid. Not with Yamato, anyway. Just trust me on this one, okay?"

Lady said something under her breath and turned to walk back to the bar stool she was sitting on earlier but stopped midway. "White hair, you say… less than half demon… Hey, are you sure that he's not-"

"Mine?" Dante finished her sentence. "The thought crossed my mind back there but I know for a fact that he's not. So no need to worry about that."

"Well, if you say so", the woman said and shrugged.

Luckily, Trish walked into Devil May Cry before Lady could press the subject further, immediately noticing Lady, sitting at the bar counter. "Oh, you're here already? I wasn't expecting you until much later", she spoke, sounding surprised.

"I got bored", Lady shrugged.

Dante raised an eyebrow. "You two have plans today?"

Trish ignored his question and walked directly to his desk, opening the top drawer and pulling out a bundle of banknotes, a very familiar one. Actually it was the exact money Lady had paid them just the day before. "I'm sorry about this, honey", she smiled and patted Dante on the shoulder. "But we're going to go do some shopping. It really can't be helped."

"Oh really?" the man snorted with slight discomfort. "And why's that?"

"Lady things, you wouldn't understand", Lady said, and it took Dante a while before he realized that she was referring to women in general, not just herself. She placed her hands on her abdomen and grimaced playfully. "I need something to comfort me. I'm on my period, you see."

Dante shut his eyes, frowning in disgust. "Gross, okay fine, go, whatever…" he spoke and waved them off.

"Hah, men. So weak", Lady laughed quietly as she and Trish walked out of the building, closing the doors behind them.

Dante sighed, opening the drawer where Trish had taken the money from and looked inside. There was barely any money left. His wallet was pretty empty as well, he remembered only having two banknotes in there, maybe about 10 dollars, and a random amount of change. Not that he wasn't used to being broke, he had been in debt and had money issues his whole life. Still, it would be nice to not need to worry about it for some time at least. Dante pursed his lips without realizing it, forming pondering expression on his face. ' _Wonder if the kid's got any money… with the Order gone and all…'_ he thought. ' _Where would he get money? The whole city is a wreck, where would anyone get money? Where will he stay? Kyrie is young and Credo dead, neither has parents…'_ After a while spacing out he glanced at the clock, noticing it was nearing 1 pm. He'd spent more or less 15 minutes just staring at nothing and thinking about Fortuna. The man snorted at himself, getting up from the chair to stretch out a little. He looted the drawer for the little money there was and left the store. He needed to get his head back into _his_ life, _his_ city, and quit worrying about the boy. Surely pizza would do the trick.

* * *

I don't know why it took me such a long time to write this... Oh well, at least I got it done. I think part of the reason is that I'm writing in google docs, so that there's at least one fic that I can continue on my phone when I'm not home. It doesn't show the word count so I have nothing to tell me how much I've written and how much I still need to write to reach my minimum (which is around 1500 words, I try to always write more than that per chapter).


	3. Revelation

It's surprisingly hard to make these chapters long ._.

* * *

Chapter 3. Revelation

Dante was still willing to believe he would get over it in a day or two, any day now. He'd forget about the kid and return to his everyday life without feeling the constant urge to mail half of his earnings to Fortuna. But it had been nearly two months since he'd left the sub-tropical island, though he could have sworn it had only been a week or two. As Dante really wasn't the type to share his serious thoughts with anyone, he generally avoided speaking about Nero with Trish or Lady when they were around in the office. And he _thought_ he was doing excellent job acting carefree and casual. But the girls weren't dumb, and especially Lady who had absolutely no clue of what might be bothering her half-devil comrade found his changed behavior very curious, if not alarming.

One day when she and Trish were walking out of Devil May Cry to go on another shopping trip, using some of Dante's money of course, Lady glanced back at the closed doors, pursing her lips. "Gosh, did you see the look on his face? This is, what, the eighth time I've seen him spacing out this month alone. He's been weird lately", she spoke, turning to look at Trish who was walking beside her.

The blonde laughed. "Oh yes. Poor thing has been like that since we left Fortuna. I wouldn't worry about it if I were you, though. I'm sure he'll be back to normal sooner or later."

Lady shrugged Dante off her mind for now, deciding to not worry about it like she'd been suggested. They got to the city center where all the best boutiques were and started making their usual rounds; from the shoe store to a casual wear shop, from casual to formal, another shoe store and then back to formal to see if they had any nice dresses. After clothes they would often grab something to eat and find a little shop somewhere and browse trinkets and small decorative items. Most times they didn't even buy anything, just went window shopping. It was something Dante would never agree to do for two reasons; one, it was boring, and two, if they did buy things he would be the one to pay and carry them for them. They had barely gotten into the other shoe store in town when the man returned to Lady's mind. "Did something happen in Fortuna?" she asked casually, eyeing a pair of boots on a shelf in front of her.

Trish glanced at her briefly before returning her eyes to the selection. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you said he's been like that since you guys returned from there. So I just thought if you might know what's on his mind lately, or if something happened back there. That's all", lady sighed.

Trish was quiet for a while, just staring at the black haired woman with a blank yet surprised expression. The moment of silence made Lady look at her with a questioning face. "You mean… he didn't tell you?"

"... Tell me what exactly?" The blonde haired woman started snickering, then laughing as she failed to hold back her giggles any longer, doubling over and leaning on her knees for support. "What?" Lady was getting annoyed. "What's so funny?"

"Oh god, you… Hah, Jesus, no wonder you've been so quiet about it!" Trish laughed, then straightened up and wiped a tear from her eye, letting out the last bits of giggles. "Did he at least mention Nero? A Fortunan kid with demon blood in him?"

"Well yeah but… Is it somehow related to him? He told me that it's not his kid, was he lying to me?" Lady frowned, not sure what she wanted Trish to answer. Because Dante being a father wasn't a thought she wanted in her head.

Trish chuckled a little again. "Oh boy… No, it's not his kid. But it's Vergil's", another giggle, "He's his goddamn nephew."

"... What!?" Lady yelped, processing this new information. "Mother of-... Vergil's!? Dante's an uncle!?" Trish nodded, holding back chuckles. "And he's been keeping this information from me!? That motherfucking…. And you **knew**?"

"I assumed you did too, but I guess I should have known he would keep it to himself", Trish snorted with a grin. "He's been thinking about the boy, I just know it. I think I made him feel bad somehow when we left, saying something I probably shouldn't have. But oh well, what can you do. We're talking about a guy who hasn't had family aside from Vergil since he was 8. If you can even count Vergil in, since he was around and 'alive' for just about a year and then he died."

"... You know it's actually no wonder he's acting strange if you think about that… … But why hasn't he contacted him or something? He has a phone on his desk."

"Oh please, Dante hasn't called anyone but the pizza guy since forever… I bet he doesn't even realize he _can_ call people", Trish joked. "He'll probably need to think it through first, just give him some time."

"No way", Lady snorted with a smirk. "I'm not watching him sit idly by while his _nephew_ is running around unsupervised and out of reach and he's obviously dying to see how he's doing. He needs someone to kick him in the ass and put things in motion, and I'm just the woman for the job."

Trish sighed, shaking her head with a smile. "Somehow I knew you'd say that… I'm starting to see why he didn't tell you about it."

 **Later that day,** back at Devil May Cry, Lady rushed through the doors, kicking them open which woke the man from his afternoon nap. She leaned on the desk, behind which Dante was sitting, with a wide grin on her face. "I hear you've been keeping things from me. Like the fact that you have an orphaned nephew hidden on some faraway island down south."

Dante stared at her for a few seconds, blinking in surprise. Then he groaned, turning to look at Trish. "Really, Trish? Really?"

"I'm sorry baby", Trish chuckled. "I didn't know it was a secret."

Dante sighed, rubbing his brows. "What do you want, Lady… So what if I do? It's not like he's my responsibility or anything… What he does is none of my business."

"But it is! He's your blood, like it or not, and just about the only family you have left", Lady spoke, throwing her hands in the air. "And you're the only known blood relative to him, too, aren't you? It's not really fair how you're shutting him out."

"Hey, I'm not shutting him out!" Dante cut in. "The kid's welcome to do whatever he wants, be it coming here or contacting me for all I care."

"You know what I mean, Dante…" Lady sighed. "And besides, do you really think Vergil wouldn't appreciate it if you checked on his son every now and then?"

"Oh, you just _had_ to pull the Vergil card…" the red-clad man muttered.

Trish chuckled, shaking her head. "Oh come on… We all know you care about the boy. Would it really be so bad if you just went to see him?"

"And say what? 'Oh by the way, I'm sorry that I killed your father who was my brother that I told you nothing about'?" Dante snorted in a sarcastic manner. "He's doing great with me out of his life, like he has up to this point…"

"But still, isn't it a bit of a dick move to not include yourself in his life even though you're related?" Lady said, pressing the matter harder as she sat on Dante's desk. "It's not like you have to tell him about it if you really don't want to, which I doubt to be honest. Just get to know him, befriend him, be there when he needs it… Basics."

The man sighed, leaning forward on his elbows. "Why are you two so obsessed with this…?"

"Oh, I don't know", Lady smirked. "Why are _you_ so obsessed with it? Can't stop thinking about it, am I right?" she snorted. "If you've got no other reason to go there then do it to get some peace of mind, will you? It's kinda annoying when you get lost in thought all the time."

Dante sighed again, hanging his head low. It's not like he didn't want to go see how Nero was doing, or that he didn't care about the boy. He wasn't even sure why he tried to deny it when the women obviously knew what was up. It just felt weird, still. And sudden, too. He actually really wanted to get to know the kid. He wanted to include him into his 'family' that now consisted of him, Lady and Trish, and he wanted to be a part of Nero's family that included him and Kyrie. Just admitting it to the two women in front of him was difficult. Dante groaned, straightening up on his chair. "Fuck this… Fine. I'll go to Fortuna, I'll see how he's doing and if there's anything I can help him with… or something…"

"Attaboy!" Lady cheered and slapped Dante on the shoulder in a playful manner, making the other snort with a faint smile on his lips.


	4. reunion

I am not dead! (Hoorray) I just haven't gotten around doing much anything lately, and writing on desktop is super weird because I'm so used to laptops ._. Will be updating slowly for a while because I have a summer job for the next two weeks and after that I'm also working on an original text which I'm planning to maybe publish as a book and might translate it to English for people online… but in any case, slower update rate : D also this might look strange somehow because it's written hslf on phone.

Chapter 4. Reunion

Dante sighed at the sight before him as the ferry neared the port of Fortuna. In the past weeks the locals had done quite a good job at rebuilding, but there were still piles of rubble and dust all over the streets. The shops all appeared to be open for business again, and as the ferry docked the man noticed another thing; a portion of the city's population had gotten rid of the white hoods that used to cover their heads and hide their faces. He stepped out of the ferry, carrying no luggage whatsoever, as he had brought nothing with him beside his usual getup and some money. Honestly, Dante had no clue what he should do next. Try and find the boy, rent a room from a hotel or motel or anything the like in case he'd stay longer, or just casually walk around and grab a beer from a pub - if the island had one. He decided that going directly to Nero would seem too suspicious, so the first thing he did was look for a place to stay. There was a small motel just near the port, the type that cost close to nothing but only had the basic furniture with no extras, or even a TV. It suited him just fine.

Dante was reluctant to leave the motel room once he'd settled in with a sandwich he'd bought along the way. Having no window, the small room hid his location so perfectly it nearly made him forget he was in Fortuna, and the fact he'd come there to visit Nero - his nephew. The man sighed and stretched his back while laying down on the bed and stared at the ceiling in front of him. "What am I even doing…" he spoke under his breath. He sighed and sat up, feeling restless. Maybe it was time to go look for the boy. The sooner he got to it, the better. Procrastination was of no use and only made the situation more awkward for him. But where would he look? The church? Dante turned up his nose. From what he had gathered the folk around town were no longer as religious, and since the Order had fallen it was unlikely the people would spend time there anymore. At least not until the place was completely fixed. Should he try to locate Nero's home? Dante shook his head. Didn't want to appear stalkerish.

After some time spent wondering what to do next, the man had decided to just walk around town and look for Nero under the cover of ' _checking how the restoration was going on around different parts'_. It was a good alibi, he thought to himself, innocent enough and somewhat believable. He sighed as he walked towards the church, where the destruction had started. The townsfolk paid surprisingly little attention to him as they went on with the repairs. On the outside, everything seemed almost complete already. Dante snorted to himself as he walked closer to the entrance. He was curious to see if the people had decided to restore the statue of Sparda, or get rid of it altogether. Not knowing what he had expected, the man felt slightly disappointed to see the statue being under reconstruction.

"Um. Mister Dante?"

Dante turned around to see who had spoken, although he'd guessed who the voice belonged to almost immediately. "Oh. Hi", he smiled casually.

Kyrie smiled brightly. "So it is you! Oh, it's good to see you, I never got to thank you properly!"

"There's no need, don't worry."

"Why are you back in Fortuna?" she asked, then her expression darkened with worry. "Are we… will there be more trouble?"

Dante shook his head lightly. "No no, I'm not here on a job. Not expecting to find any demons aside from a few stragglers. But I trust Nero is taking care of those?"

"Yeah… It's a lot of work, having to track down and kill all the remaining demons that are still in the city area, alone…" Kyrie spoke. "He's the only one around here who can fight demons now. No one else left since the Order and Credo…"

"I see", Dante muttered, looking around the church walls. "So… What do you do here?"

"I bring food for the workers", the girl smiled shyly and pointed at a tray on a bench further from them. "It's not much, but I want to help."

Dante smiled. "I'm sure they appreciate it."

Kyrie made a gesture towards one of the benches and Dante followed her to it, sitting on it next to her. The girl turned to look at the older man with curiosity. "Did you come here to see Nero?"

The man flinched ever so slightly, which Kyrie thankfully didn't notice. Dante smiled casually. "Yeah, I thought it would be fun to see how you're all doing nowadays. You two still together?" Kyrie blushed bright pink and she turned away to stutter a yes. "That's nice. He ever hurt you, you just call me and I'll be here to kick his ass", Dante chuckled.

"I'm sure that won't be necessary", Kyrie laughed shyly. "He's out making his rounds at the moment, but if you want to, you could come wait at our place. He should be back by evening."

"Well, if it's not trouble…"

"Oh, I insist! I'm sure he'll be glad to see you when he comes back!"

"What makes you say that?" Dante chuckled.

"Well… you didn't hear this from me, but I think he admires you a great deal. And you two seemed to get along pretty well, in the end!"

' _In the end, sure',_ the man thought to himself with amusement. ' _The beginning was a bit rough, though'_.

 **In the evening** , as Kyrie had absolutely insisted that Dante came with her to the house that she, Nero and previously also Credo lived in, the two ended up uncorking a bottle of wine to pass the time.

Dante snorted half a chuckle and leaned forward on his seat. "What happened next?"

"And then-" Kyrie giggled, quite drunk, "and then Nero grabbed the entire cheesewheel and dived straight into between the walls through the hole! He was so tiny as a child. Then he poked his head back out and yelled at the chef: ' _Don't come any closer or I'll punch you in the-'_... Oh."

Dante turned to look where Kyrie's eyes were focused and saw Nero, standing in the doorframe carrying his sword case in his human hand, with a really confused expression on his face. He felt his heart skip a beat the sight of the boy, and all the anticipation and stress related to it just flushed away.

"Dante?" Nero asked, raising an eyebrow. "What are you doing here? And I'm not talking about just Fortuna, why are you in our home? Has something happened?"

"Don't worry, Nero, he says it's not trouble", Kyrie smiled and walked to the boy, placing a light kiss on his cheek. "Now that you're here, you can keep our guest entertained while I take a shower", she said and walked past Nero to the bathroom.

Dante leaned back, crossing his legs with a smug smile on his face. "Yes, entertain me, I demand it."

Nero snorted and put the case down against a wall and sat on the other side of the table, facing Dante. "So why are you here? Not that I'm… not happy to see you, but… it's unexpected."

"Kyrie invited me here", the older hunter said casually and sipped on his wine.

"Uh-huh, and you're in Fortuna because…?"

"Why, to see you of course!" Dante spoke in a joking tone, winking his eye at the boy.

"Ugh, whatever", Nero sighed, not believing the reason just like Dante had intended. He picked a mug off the sink, as it happened to be the only clean object within reach that he could drink out of, and poured wine from the bottle into it. "What the hell, you've drank almost all of it… and with Kyrie, too. She doesn't usually drink much…"

"It's my unbeatable charm, kid. All the ladies want to drink with me", Dante smiled.

"Pff, yeah sure", Nero chuckled. "I'm getting the image of a perverted uncle who hits on chicks at grandma's funeral party and leaves with a harem…"

"Uncle?" Dante repeated the word with his eyes wide. He couldn't know… could he?

"Yeah, I mean, because you're old and stuff", Nero snorted, completely oblivious to the odd reation of the other. "Be glad I didn't say grandpa."

Dante let out the breath he'd been holding. "... Also, did you just say _funeral party_?"

"Oh shut up."

Kyrie came to the doorway wearing only a towel around her naked body and her hair let down. She hadn't showered yet so she was dry. "Hey Nero, Dante could help you do stuff tomorrow, can't he?"

"You mean kill demons?" Nero asked. "There aren't that many around, I'll manage."

"Yes but he could keep you company! You also gotta go shopping for groceries and you promised to help the workers at the docks, and-"

"Yes yes, I remember", Nero groaned. "But you can't make him…"

"Oh, I don't mind. I'll tag along."

"... Really?"

"Great!" Kyrie cheered. "But I'll go to the shower now, and… Oh hey you could join us tomorrow for dinner!" After saying that, she rushed back to the bathroom.

Nero turned to look at the older man with an uneasy expression. "You don't have to come if you don't want to."

Dante chuckled. "I'll think about it if she asks me again sober. … How does that story end?"

The boy sighed. "The one she was telling? The cheesewheel story?"

"Yeah."

"Credo came over and pulled me out from my hair. I was so pissed that I didn't speak to him for two whole days."

"Hah", Dante laughed. "Guess you were always a little punk." He looked up at the clock on the wall and stood up from his chair. "Yupp, I guess it's time for me to go now."

"Where are you staying?"

"At the cheapest place I could find, can't remember the name but I'm sure you know which one I mean. If you don't mind me following, that's where you'll find me", Dante said as he walked out of the kitchen. "See ya, kid."

"Bye", the boy muttered.

Dante walked back to his room in complete silence, barely thinking of anything at all. As he got in, he kicked of his shoes and slumped on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. It was almost as if he had forgotten his relation to Nero the moment he had walked in. Almost. Being around him felt alright, he didn't even think about it much. As he thought on it more, he realized he'd not actually forgotten the relation, just the fact that Nero wasn't aware of it and that he was going to tell him. ' _Why am I nervous',_ he thought to himself. ' _He either likes the fact or doesn't, there's hardly anything at stake here. … I think.'_ He groaned and turned on his side. What if he wants to **talk** about it, he was not good at talking, or explaining, what if he gets mad or spontaneously bursts to tears, what then? Shaking the thoughts out of his head and noting how stupid they were, Dante decided it's best to just sleep and think more next day. It was slightly comforting knowing that if Nero had not wanted to see him at all or talk to him, the kid would most likely have said it to his face. He seemed to be blunt like that. The man snorted and got up to undress for bed. Judging by what Kyrie told Nero, tomorrow was going to be busy.


End file.
